


i didn't see the lights

by pensiveVisionary (hamburr)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Communication Failure, Humanstuck, Kissing, M/M, gdi karkat, rose is done with your bs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8926297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamburr/pseuds/pensiveVisionary
Summary: Karkat hasn't heard from Eridan in a somewhat concerning amount of time. He decides to check up on him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> another old fic. might be one more up later today and then it is back to business as usual

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS, and you are marginally worried about ERIDAN AMPORA.

You haven’t seen him in two days, which means he’s probably holed up in his room in abject misery, and that is never a good sign. He is either sick, or has been out doing whatever it is that brainless Amporas do when they’re feeling particularly self-destructive (which is usually). That makes the latter the likelier of the two options, and you brace yourself to deal with a hungover Eridan, which is never a good sight. Ever.

You go down the hall and knock on his door.

“Don’t come in,” he says.

“It’s Karkat. Are you naked?”

“...No?”

“Then I’m coming in.” The asshole never locks his door. You open it.

“No, Kar, I’m not pretty!” he yelps, and your first thought is _that’s not true_. True, he’s pale, even more so than usual, and has dark circles under his eyes. True, he looks like he is more than definitely hungover. True, his hair isn’t styled in his dumb signature flip; it’s floppy and soft and framing his face and falling in his eyes. It’s so light and fluffy and all you want to do is run your fingers through it, and pull him in and—

You shake yourself out of your staring and frown at him. “You look like you haven’t slept in a month, and your primary thought is that you’re not pretty? Eridan, that’s the dumbest thing I have possibly ever heard. Also, what the ever-loving fuck have you been up to?”

“...Not much?”

“We both know that’s bullshit.”

“Okay, maybe not quite not much, but honestly, Kar, you don’t have to fret or nothin’.”

“I’m genetically predisposed to fretting. Sorry. You’re going to have to live with it. Have you eaten anything today?”

“...No?”

“I’ll be back shortly.” You turn on your heel and head back to your room to find him something to eat.

You return and plop down on the edge of his bed, handing him a granola bar and a water bottle. He mumbles a “thanks,” and then you sit in silence until he’s finished eating. You’re preoccupied with trying to stop wanting to kiss Eridan, because you actually don’t want to kiss Eridan. You have never wanted to kiss Eridan. Ever. That is not something that happens. Not to you. Not even when his hair looks so goddamn soft that it is taking all of your self-control not to run your hands through it. Not even then.

He looks up at you with those nonsensically violet eyes of his, and you tense and try to look away, but you can’t.

“Kar, are you all right?” he asks quietly, concern written all over his face, and that’s it, somehow that’s the last straw. You wind your fingers into his hair and lean down and kiss him, and with no hesitation at all he is kissing you back.

You spend a fair amount of time blissfully not thinking, and then you realize that yes, you are actually kissing Eridan Ampora, and your brain shuts down. You enter Panic Mode.  
You shove him away and leap to your feet and bolt for the door. You don’t look back at him, you don’t say anything, because, what the fuck, you just kissed your best friend. A lot.

And—

and—

shit.

Halfway down the hallway, you wind up barreling straight into Rose Lalonde, who gives you a skeptical eyebrow raise. “Where's the fire?"

“I fucked up. Completely,” you groan.

"Nope. Nope, I am not dealing with your terrible and overly dramatic ass. Kanaya might have the patience for that, but I really do not. I have three tests tomorrow, I have to study."

“I kissed Eridan. And then panicked and ran out of his room.”

Rose sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose. "I don't have time for this. Just, like... go talk to him? Like, what are you, thirteen? Go march your dumb ass down the hallway and apologize and cut the bullshit."

“But—“

“Karkat. Go talk to Eridan. You're being absurd.”

“But I don’t know how!” you say, throwing your hands into the air.

“You never shut up, I'm pretty sure you know how to talk."

“Rose,” you whine.

"Look, I'm not the asshole here. You just ditched the dude, go fix this." She puts her hands on your shoulders and physically turns you around, then gives you a little push between your shoulderblades. "And quit making women do your emotional labor, Kanaya puts up with enough bullshit without you and your melodramatic problems."

You have nothing to say to that. You slink back down the hallway, and stand in front of Eridan’s door for at least a minute before you manage to lift your arm and knock. The door flies open half a second later. Eridan stares at you and you stare at him and neither of you say anything for a long time. You try not to notice that his hair is still not done and there’s tufts of white-blond hair sticking up in the back, you did that, and dark purple bangs are hanging in his eyes, those fucking violet eyes, and—

“I’m sorry,” you squeak.

“I should think so,” he grumbles, and steps aside so you can walk in. You do, and he closes the door behind you. You proceed to stand there and stare at each other some more. You try several times to say something, but you can’t make your mouth move. You’re paralyzed with guilt and fear and oh god you’ve totally screwed everything up to infinity you know it.

He sighs. “Kar, are you ever actually gonna say somethin’?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry, I don’t know where that came from, well except maybe I do because, hey, guess what, Karkat Vantas is a huge dumb loser who is nowhere near in touch with his own feelings and whenever he actually stands a fucking chance of having something nice happen to him for once, he goes and fucking screws it up because that is just how he operates, apparently and oh god Eridan, I’m so sorry.”

He bites his lip. “So why’d you do it, then?”

You don’t know which “it” he’s referring to, and it doesn’t matter, because both have the same reasoning behind them, both kissing him and running away, and either way, you’re about to fuck things up royally. “Because—“ You stop, and take a deep breath. “Because I actually really fucking like you, and I don't know how to handle it, and so stupid idiot me thought the best plan of action was to just take off and hide, but then Rose talked some sense into me, because she’s actually a smart and decent person as opposed to a blithering dickbag, and—oh, fuck it all. I like you and I screwed it all up. As usual.”

He looks at you for a long moment. “No, Kar. You’re an asshole, but you didn’t screw it up. Not by a long shot.” You stare at him. “We could try it again, if— if you wanted,” he adds cautiously.

“Hell yeah, I want to,” you say quietly. The smile that lights up his face is unexpected—and entirely beautiful. You reach up and cup his face in your hands and pull him down and kiss him softly. He wraps his arms around you and pulls you in close and you swear have never, ever been so happy.

**Author's Note:**

> when you change half the dialogue bc it was terrible. anyway rose is calling my past self out
> 
> [driving home tonight i didn't see the lights i was just watching you sleep in shotgun i could have crashed the car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTOiwLUmlyU)


End file.
